Notes
1Lacan's later theorizing included extensive work on how the real, and therefore the real body, may never become fully signified. The traumatic real and the unknowable body are always present and never resolvable (Lacan, 1972–1973).
2This concept is directly related to Lacan's later work on the objet a and jouissance (CitationLacan, 1964, 1972–1973).
3 CitationLacan (1958b) also calls S1 the phallus, and of course this name has stirred up all sorts of misunderstanding. To be clear, the phallus is not and does not represent a penis per se, nor does it signify that a penis is the Answer to the entire question of desire; all of that is Imaginary and changeable.